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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936518">Useless at Baking</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/funnygirlthatbelle13/pseuds/funnygirlthatbelle13'>funnygirlthatbelle13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Baking, Cute, F/M, this is so dumb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:28:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936518</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/funnygirlthatbelle13/pseuds/funnygirlthatbelle13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb tries to do something nice for Jester. The results get a little bit messy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Useless at Baking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jester Lavorre prided herself on her ability to always appear like things were going well, even if she was secretly struggling. She was so good at it that even Caduceus, with all his crazy insightfulness, could almost never tell when something was bothering her. But even she wasn’t perfect, and if anyone was going to catch on, it was Caleb.</p><p>So when Caleb offered to accompany her on her way to the jeweler’s, she wasn’t surprised when he turned to her, concern evident in his eyes.</p><p>“Something is bothering you, ja?” he asked.</p><p>Normally, she would have brushed him off, but there was something in his eyes that compelled her to tell him the truth. </p><p>“Ja, but it’s really not that big of a deal,” she assured him.</p><p>An orange eyebrow quirked in disbelief.</p><p>“Really, Caleb, it’s not that big of a deal. Actually, it’s pretty stupid.” </p><p>Caleb frowned as they crossed the street.</p><p>“If it’s making you upset, it’s not stupid, Jester.”</p><p>She turned away, hoping that he didn’t notice the blush creeping across her cheeks. It was moments like these that made her crush grow day by day. But it’s not like it mattered; Caleb was sweet, but there was no way he would ever feel the same way about her. </p><p>“Well,” she said with a sigh, “It’s my birthday next week. And-and it’s my first- I’ve never-“ she trailed off.</p><p>“It is- this will be your first birthday away from home. Is that what is upsetting you?” </p><p>She chanced a glance up at him. His expression was one of putting the pieces together, but not judgemental. Never judgemental. </p><p>“Ja,” she muttered, nodding tightly, “But-but we promised the Bright Queen that we wouldn’t leave town until they figured out how that break-in happened, and Essek said that these things usually take weeks.”</p><p>Caleb nodded, but at this point, they had reached the jeweler’s, so he kept quiet as she bought the necessary diamonds. But after they exited the store, he brought it up again. </p><p>“I know we are not… well, we are not your mother,” he said with a chuckle, “But we could still celebrate your birthday, as a group.” </p><p>Jester smiled sadly at him. She knew that his heart was in the right place, that he just wanted her to be happy, but she couldn’t imagine celebrating her birthday without her mother, at least not this year.</p><p>“Please don’t tell everyone, Caleb,” she whispered, “I don’t want to have to pretend to be happy when I’m not.”</p><p>Caleb nodded solemnly, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. Jester smiled in spite of herself.</p><p>“Let’s go home, ja?” she asked, leaning against him. </p><p>“J-ja,” Caleb mumbled, and his face almost looked pink as they walked back to the Xhorhouse, his arm wrapped around her the entire way.</p><p>Jester woke up the morning of her birthday not sure of the time, but confident that she had slept in. Which meant that the others were all probably about their business by now. Caduceus and Fjord had been contacted by an old bugbear who worshipped the Wildmother as well, and the three of them were going to have tea or something. Beau had hoped to go talk to Professor Waccoh, and Caleb had said he’d consider joining her depending on how successful his research was. And Yasha and Veth had decided to go hat shopping. Which left Jester alone on her birthday. She really hated to be alone, but everyone else’s plans seemed even more unappealing than this.</p><p>Still, she shouldn’t waste the day away. Jester made her way downstairs, the stone floor feeling especially cold against her bare feet. She would get changed soon, but first, breakfast. Jester made her way to the kitchen, swung open the door, and-</p><p>“Jester!”</p><p>It took all of her willpower not to gasp as she took in the sight before her. It was Caleb, but not like she was used to. For one thing, his hair was in a ponytail, which in and of itself wasn’t that strange, but was so not Caleb-y that it threw her off her guard. The next thing that she noticed was that he wasn’t wearing his usual amount of layers. The coat, scarf, and even his fancy chainmail were nowhere to be seen. If not for the book holsters still being in place (though even that was weird; normally, those were out of sight), she might have thought this all to be a dream. She was so used to Caleb being slightly amorphous that actually being able to see him was kind of distracting.</p><p>“Guten Morgen,” Caleb said with a small smile, “Happy birthday.”</p><p>“Hi,” she said, sounding short of breath from the surprise, “What are you doing here?”</p><p>And that was when she noticed a bowl of thick, yellow batter on the counter. </p><p>“Cay-leb, you said you wouldn’t tell!” </p><p>His eyes widened in horror as his cheeks turned pink again. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. </p><p>“Nein! I mean, I-I would never go behind your back like that,” he took a deep breath, scratching his arm as he did so, “But I-I still wanted to do something. And I came up with a good lie to get away with it.” </p><p>She raised one eyebrow but said nothing. She didn’t need to. </p><p>“Five days ago, I told Veth that I was  missing my mother and what, uh, what a good baker she was. Three days ago, I asked Caduceus to borrow his cookbook because I was looking for something. And, uh, yesterday, I mentioned to Beauregard that I was a little homesick.” </p><p>Jester let out a low, impressed whistle. Caleb had constructed such an intricate web of half-truths and misdirection that no one would ever trace this back to her.</p><p>“You’d be such a good follower of the Traveler, you know that, Caleb?”</p><p>Caleb chuckled, and gods, she felt her heart fluttering all around her chest as he smiled at her. </p><p>“Maybe,” he said, a twinkle of mischief in his eye, “Perhaps after this cake is done, we can try to reach out to him.”</p><p>He was kidding, of course, but she still smiled.</p><p>“Do you need any help, Cay-leb?” she asked, rocking back and forth on her feet. His smile spread wider across his face so that his eyes were barely visible behind the crinkles.</p><p>“Only if you truly want to,” he murmured, “It is your birthday, ja?” </p><p>Jester shrugged.</p><p>“It sounds like fun, so why not?”</p><p>Besides, any time with Caleb alone would be worth it, even if it was spent doing something lame like reorganizing the library. </p><p>Caleb smiled.</p><p>“A-alright then. Could you, uh, pass me the sugar?”</p><p>***</p><p>Beau sighed. Talking to Waccoh had been a total bust. It’s not like it was her fault. Okay, maybe it was, but that was besides the point. </p><p>Maybe she could try that new mead Fjord had picked up the other day when she got back. Yeah, a nice, quiet, afternoon drink with-</p><p>“That’s cheating!”</p><p>“We never established any rules!”</p><p>The sound of Caleb and Jester’s cries sent Beau running into the Xhorhouse, dashing from room to room searching for them until finally reaching the kitchen. </p><p>“What the fuck?” she cried.</p><p>The kitchen was fucking destroyed. A table was overturned, some sort of sticky purple liquid had been flung all over the walls. White powder covered the entire floor. And standing right in the middle of all this chaos were Jester, whipped cream in her hair, and Caleb, a purple tinged mark on his cheek that looked remarkably lip-shaped.</p><p>It took her a moment to take in the scene, but once she did, Beau shook her head, chuckling. </p><p>“We can’t fucking leave you guys alone for one day?”</p><p>Caleb had turned a rather impressive shade of pink. Jester, for her part, was grinning, completely unashamed. </p><p>“How was Waccoh?” Caleb asked.</p><p>“Don’t try to change the subject,” Beau snapped, “What the fuck were you doing? And when were you gonna tell us you were dating?”</p><p> </p><p>Caleb’s blush deepened tenfold as he stammered, eyes wide.</p><p>“I-I-I we are not-it’s-“</p><p>Jester was now blushing furiously as well.</p><p>Beau rolled her eyes and grinned.</p><p>“Ah, I’m just playing!”</p><p>Caleb let out a deep sigh of relief. </p><p>“But seriously, clean this shit up,” Beau added before exiting the kitchen.</p><p>Fucking useless, the both of them, she thought fondly. Completely fucking useless. </p><p>“Whew, that was close,” Caleb said quietly. But not quiet enough that she couldn’t hear from the kitchen.</p><p>“Ja,” Jester agreed, “Now, get over here so I can pay you back for what you did to my hair.”</p><p>Huh. Maybe not so useless after all.</p>
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